Fact Check

Were the Minnesota shootings targeting state lawmakers and their family members motivated by leftist political views of the suspect, Vance Luther Boelter? While many details remain unclear as of June16, 2025, available evidence doesn't support this theory. Here is what we know about Boelter's political affiliation. A rumor about Boelter's left-leaning views appeared in a post (archived here) on X,…

Does a photo in multiple social media posts show Vance Boelter, the man alleged to have killed a Minnesota lawmaker in his own home? No, that's not true: A member of the executive committee of the Texas Democratic Party identified the couple in the image as a Houston candidate for Texas party chair: Lillie Schechter and her husband. Reverse image…

Did a New York State judge order Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to surrender her tax returns and financials? No, that's not true: That yarn appeared on an account labelled "Satire/Parody", which warns readers that everything on the page is made up. There's no record of such a case on Google News' index of thousands of news sites, and with intense interest…

Did Jelly Roll announce that he would not celebrate Pride Month and that "WOKE Doesn't Deserve to Be Celebrated"? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that the singer, rapper, and songwriter known as Jelly Roll -- real name Jason DeFord -- made such a statement. His official website and social media accounts do not include the statement. The…

Did President Donald Trump thank "No Kings" protesters in a widely-shared Truth Social post in June 2025? No, that's not true: An apparent screenshot of such a post was in fact fake. Trump did not write "I was very concerned a king was trying to take my place, but thanks to your tireless efforts, I AM STILL YOUR PRESIDENT!" The…

Did a widely-shared video show real police officers handcuffing a Black man in a restaurant who turned out to be an undercover FBI agent? No, that's not true: The people in the video were simply acting out a scripted scenario. The page that posted the sketch routinely publishes similar scripted scenarios, and is affiliated with Network Media, a company that…

Did Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift attend a "No Kings Day" protest and is there a photo to prove it? No, that's not true: A viral story about the appearance of the pair was illustrated with a photo generated with artificial intelligence. The story also mentioned social media posts by the couple that they didn't actually make and there were…

Did a photo show a huge crowd flattening the bridge deck of San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge during the "No Kings" protest on June 14, 2025? No, that's not true: A viral post wrongly attributed to biologist David Attenborough was talking about 1987 events and used a photo from that year. There were no news reports about "No Kings" events…

Did the U.S. Department of Defense include the Russian flag on a graphic tweeted in observance of U.S. Flag Day? Yes, with qualification: The "Happy Flag Day" post does include two rectangles of white, blue, and red, which is the same design as the flag of Russia. There is no reference to Russia in the text and the U.S. flag…

Does a viral video show the "first Iranian drone" shot down in Israel in mid-June 2025? No, that's not true: The footage was recorded in Ukraine. It's impossible for it to have documented the Iran-Israel conflict, as it was first posted to the web three years earlier. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X on June…

Did an authentic news outlet report that the May 2025 expense report of the California Democratic Party showed it bought 200 pallets of bricks ahead of ICE protests in Los Angeles? No, that's not true: The story originated on a Facebook account that identifies the owner as a comedian working for Donald Trump. The bricks story did not include links…

Did former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning adopt a daughter named Lily? No, that's not true: A viral Facebook post contained no more than fan fiction and images that appeared to be AI-generated. The page that published it regularly posts similar heartwarming (and fabricated) stories about Manning, along with pictures that appear AI-generated. The story appeared in a widely-shared June 10,…

Does a widely-shared video prove that U.S. military tanks patrolled the streets of Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2025? No, that's not true: The person who recorded it told Lead Stories that the 10-second clip showed an armored vehicle that was in the nation's capital to participate in a military parade on June 14, 2025. That account was consistent with…

Does a video on TikTok show "Bikers on the way to California to back ICE agents" in June of 2025? No, that's not true: The video was first posted to TikTok in November 2022 -- almost three years before protesters in Los Angeles took to the streets to block aggressive ICE immigration raids. The video's original poster was documenting bikers…

Was a Craigslist ad offering "$1,000, paid in cryptocurrency" for "seat fillers" to attend a military parade in Washington, D.C. authentic? The listing attracted attention on social media when it appeared in the week leading up to a June 14, 2025, military parade. Here is what we know about it so far. The ad (archived here) was published on June…

Did a video show passengers on board an Air India flight as it crashed in June 2025? No, that's not true: The clip was in fact recorded on board a plane that crashed after leaving Kathmandu, Nepal, in January 2023. On June 12, 2025, a London-bound Air India flight with 242 people on board crashed shortly after leaving Ahmedabad airport…

Does a video show "bikers on their way to Los Angeles" as a viral social media post claimed? No, that's not true: The video, captioned "Californication", shows bikers in the Los Angeles area in 2022. It has nothing to do with events in that city in 2025. The video reappeared in a viral post on X (archived here) published on…

Did Donald Trump post on his Truth Social account that he is "...open to reconciling with Elon ..."? No, that's not true: The viral image of the supposed Trump post on the social media platform he owns is fabricated. There is no trace of such a post on Trump's Truth Social account and none was indexed by Google. After their…

Did U.S. President Donald Trump propose a bill that bans all lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders, from re-entering the U.S., if they leave? No, that's not true: As of June 11, 2025, Lead Stories found no such bill on the website of Congress. An earlier June 2025 White House proclamation about new travel restrictions did not…

Did The Economic Times article that declared Kamala Harris won the 2024 election cite reports that concluded voting systems were rigged for Donald Trump? No, that's not true: The reports referred to by The Economic Times all stop short of declaring the election was stolen. Instead, those writers whom The Economic Times cited said there are questions about software and…